Tiffany & Co. flagship store

727 5th Avenue | also 2 East 57th Street, 731 5th Avenue | Midtown | built 1940

Open on the map7 entries

The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

  1. 1889

    November 2

    Collis P. Huntington breaks ground for a George B. Post mansion on the corner

    The Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide announced on November 2, 1889 that excavation had begun for a mansion for railroad magnate Collis P. Huntington, on five 25-foot lots at the southeast corner of Fifth Avenue and 57th Street. George B. Post designed it with huge blocks of rough-cut stone, and it took five years and about $2.5 million to finish. The house, 2 East 57th Street, stood on the lot where the Tiffany flagship now stands.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1900

    August

    Collis P. Huntington's casket lies in the mansion library before his funeral

    After Huntington died at his Adirondack lodge in August 1900, a special train brought his body to Grand Central, and his casket was laid in the library of the 57th Street mansion to await a private funeral two days later. During the few minutes his coffin was taken from the hearse to the grave, the Southern Pacific system halted its operations in tribute.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1924

    September 16

    Arabella Huntington, widow of Collis, dies in the Fifth Avenue mansion

    Arabella Huntington died at 2 East 57th Street on September 16, 1924, aged 72. She had married Collis Huntington in 1884 and, after his death, his nephew Henry E. Huntington in 1913. The New York Times noted that she was never a conspicuous figure in New York society, though she gave to Tuskegee, Hampton and other causes, and her adopted son Archer inherited life rights to the mansion.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1926

    June

    The Huntington mansion is auctioned off and demolished

    After Arabella's death her son Archer Huntington gave the art collection to the Metropolitan Museum and in August 1925 asked a court to let him sell the mansion, for which he had a $3.8 million offer. The library, furniture and paintings were auctioned from February 1926, and by June the building was gone. A four-story store for Park & Tilford was going up on the site, and Tiffany arrived in 1940.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  5. 1940

    October 21

    Tiffany opens its new Fifth Avenue store quietly and draws 12,000 visitors

    Tiffany & Co. opened its Cross & Cross building at 727 Fifth Avenue on October 21, 1940, with no fanfare, and about 12,000 people visited on the first day. The Fifth Avenue Association later named it the best new structure on the avenue in 1940. It replaced the firm's earlier flagship at 401 Fifth Avenue, twenty blocks south.

    “The 727 Fifth Avenue store opened on October 21, 1940, without any fanfare; it was visited by 12,000 people in its first day of operation.”

    Source: Wikipedia

  6. 1979

    Donald Trump buys the store's air rights while building Trump Tower next door

    In 1979, while developing neighboring Trump Tower, Donald Trump paid $5 million for the air rights above the Tiffany store. He considered it the city's best piece of real estate and wanted to keep another developer from demolishing it for a taller tower. The deal was reportedly one of his favorites, and he later named his daughter Tiffany after the location.

    “Trump had considered the Tiffany's flagship to be the city's best real-estate property, and he had wanted to prevent another developer from tearing down the store…”

    Source: Wikipedia

  7. 1986

    Daiichi Real Estate pays a record price per square foot for the Tiffany building

    A Texas investment syndicate bought the building for $66.5 million in 1984 and leased it back to Tiffany, then resold it in 1986 to Daiichi Real Estate for $94.35 million. That worked out to about $959 per square foot, which was then the most ever paid per square foot for a commercial building in the United States. Tiffany bought the building back in 1999 for $94 million.

    “Daiichi paid about $959 per square foot, which at the time was the highest price per square foot for a commercial property in the United States.”

    Source: Wikipedia

Further reading

Nearby

All 178 buildings with stories in Midtown